Issues of displacement and vulnerability are at the forefront of George Awde’s photographs. His portraits of migrant laborers, emigrants from Syria, and Syrian Kurdistan living in Beirut explore notions of belonging. His focus on their survival; stripped from their families, many without rights in their adoptive country also raises questions about masculinity and citizenship. To survive, these men must form new communities, learning to adapt and grow together. The difficulty of their struggle is reflected by the marks of time on their bodies, taking the form of cuts and scars, their profound disillusionment is reflected in their direct gaze to the camera.
In his past collections; Shifting Grounds (2011 – 2012), His Passing Cover (2012 – 2013), and Cairo Iand II (2012 – present), Awde pays homage to his subjects – always interlacing portraits with still life and landscapes, he gives clues to the weight of the voyage these men must endure. Through his photographs the men’s transformation to maturity and the accompanying realization of their trauma, both physical and psychological becomes clear. The development of these relationships have fostered a trust and understanding between artist and subject; Some of the men now engage in a form of collaboration with him, extending their dialogue through the self portraits they take of themselves on their mobile phones and send to him, a few of these were recently exhibited with Awde’s photographs in the group show, Shangri La: Imagined Cities at the Los Angeles Municipal Gallery.
This process has been pursued and pushed further with his latest collection, Fragile States, which opened at East Wing in Dubai earlier this month and runs until the 25th of June. Awde’s background as a painter is evident in his use of twilight and its subtle color in his masterful compositions. These simple portraits are far from silent, in their honesty they implore us to question the commonality of this displaced generation and it’s growth.
George Awde was born in 1980 in Boston of Lebanese descent. He studied painting at the Massachusetts College of Art (2004) and received his MFA in Photography from Yale University School of Art (2009). Throughout his active and ongoing career, his work has been granted awards such as the Aaron Siskind Foundation’s Individual Photographer’s Fellowship (2012), he won the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Photography Portfolio Competition (2012), was awarded Fulbright US Scholar Grant to Egypt (2012-2013), Alice Kimball English Travel Fellowship (2009), and The Richard Benson Scholarship for Excellence in Photography (2008) – amongst others. He is currently Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and co-director of marra.tein, a residency and research initiative in Beirut. George will be the invited artist in residence at Lightwork in Syracuse, NY in July 2015.
EXHIBITION
Fragile States by George Awde
From May 14th to June 25th, 2015
East Wing
Limestone House # 12
Dubai International Financial Centre
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Ritz Carlton Annex
Saturday – Thursday 10AM – 3PM & 5PM – 8PM
XGallery Hours Saturday – Thursday 10AM – 3PM & 5PM – 8PM
